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Shoalhaven Literary Award – Poetry 2016

April 21, 2016

During February, Shoalhaven Branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers, Shoalhaven Arts Board and Bundanon Trust launched the Shoalhaven Literary Award for 2016.

This year the award is for poetry and the judge is Sydney poet and teacher, Brook Emery. He has published four books of poetry, and dug my fingers in the sand (FIP 2000), which won the Judith Wright Calanthe Prize for poetry at the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards, Misplaced Heart (FIP 2003) and Uncommon Light (FIP 2007). All three were short-listed for the Kenneth Slessor Prize at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. His most recent book, Collusion, was published in September 2012.

Individual poems have won the Newcastle Poetry Prize, the Bruce Dawe National Poetry Prize and the Max Harris Award among others. He has taught in schools, universities and the community and has had extensive experience as a mentor, workshop leader, lecturer and assessor at HSC, undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Examples of his poetry can be found at the international poetry website, The Poetry archive and at the John Leonard Press website.

The prizes on offer are:

1st: $1000 together with a two-week artist residency at Arthur Boyd’s Bundanon on the Shoalhaven River.
2nd: $300
3rd: $100
Plus $200 Geoff Bolton Award for an entry from a Shoalhaven resident.

The competition closes on Friday 3 June 2016 and winners will be notified after Saturday 17 September 2016.

Download an entry form from the FAW Shoalhaven website, www.fawnswshoalhaven.org.au. Results, judge’s report and other information will be published on the same site from 17 September 2016